exploding bullets on impact...is this real or are people guessing?

0C89C79C-C648-4EB9-8854-5CECF1BB63BE.jpeg This doe was shot with a 139gr sst out of a 280 rem clipped the shoulder and never made it past that the shot was 35 yards away
 
Too much velocity @ impact. This is the best deer bullet I've ever shot in the 7-08. Also a great bullet to 500 in the smaller 7 Mags. Ribs only up close though.
Only one that's behaved that way other shots are further and better results but I have switched bullets
 
So then what we are learning from this thread is that bullets have parameters that they work the best in and that the manufacture of them have studied them and designed them for certain uses and that at close range combined with high velocities a lot of otherwise good performing bullets might not give us the desired performance and or results we are looking for?
 
So then what we are learning from this thread is that bullets have parameters that they work the best in and that the manufacture of them have studied them and designed them for certain uses and that at close range combined with high velocities a lot of otherwise good performing bullets might not give us the desired performance and or results we are looking for?
YUP!
 
I have seen several versions of this. A 22 Short or 22 hi-power blank is inserted into a bullet drilled to accept it. The idea was to have a round explode inside an animal, killing it instantly. Only problem is it doen't work. It works when you shoot against a rock or something hard, but animals aren't hard enough to set the round off. There were also some with a steel bearing in the nose of a HP filled with fulminate, but I don't want to be the one firing the gun.
 
I to have made exploding arrows but differently,
Aluminum Arrow
A 6 inch piece of carbon arrow that will slide into the aluminum one
glue some aluminum foil in one end of the carbon arrow piece, then fill with black powder top with shotgun primer and tape a bb onto the primer and fire away.
 
That looks like a massive exit wound.
Seems like it but it had no penetration I shot 4 deer with that bullet and all where good then I switch to a bonded bullet I have about 800 162gr amax bullets to load after I return from Mexico to see what they will do next hunting season since I'll be here for this years season hunting and on vacation
 
I had (still have) a 220 swift and while at the range 1 day I hit a piece of the poly string used to hold the targets. The target was only about 1 foot behind. Well nothing penetrated the target but it was covered with lead splatter.
 
Seems like it but it had no penetration I shot 4 deer with that bullet and all where good then I switch to a bonded bullet I have about 800 162gr amax bullets to load after I return from Mexico to see what they will do next hunting season since I'll be here for this years season hunting and on vacation

Be careful with the Amax at magnum velocities, its a very soft match bullet.
 
I have read many threads over the years about bullets blowing up on impact and not being a lethal hit with game such as a deer. My questions are as follows:

1. Has anyone ever witnessed a bullet actually blow up on impact with a deer, and not kill the deer? and what I mean by this is you were able to get a second shot on the deer and actually see the first shot in autopsy to confirm and not guess what happened.

2. If your answer to 1 is YES, I just do not get the physics of this so maybe someone can explain it to me. I just don't understand how a 140+ grain object going 2800+FPS can explode, even on bone, and the fragments do not still penetrate to the vitals.

I have used ballistic tips in the past in excess of 3000fps and while they definitely "blew up" inside the deer, they still took the deer out no problem. Ive yet to have one blow up on a shoulder and not had fragments penetrate to lungs and heart.
My son had a 100 grain ballistic tip from a 25-06 hit a whitetail in the shoulder @250 yds. Muzzle velocity of aprx. 3200fps. Didn't know it was hit in the shoulder at first. Laid there stone cold for about ten minutes. Walking upon it and it looked grave yard dead then took off like lightning on three legs. It must have been in shock. Barnes 80 ttsx was the remedy for that rifle & possible shoulder shots but I can tell you that there's alot of wind drift to account for with the old 25-06 in most 25 cal bullets.
 
My son had a 100 grain ballistic tip from a 25-06 hit a whitetail in the shoulder @250 yds. Muzzle velocity of aprx. 3200fps. Didn't know it was hit in the shoulder at first. Laid there stone cold for about ten minutes. Walking upon it and it looked grave yard dead then took off like lightning on three legs. It must have been in shock. Barnes 80 ttsx was the remedy for that rifle & possible shoulder shots but I can tell you that there's alot of wind drift to account for with the old 25-06 in most 25 cal bullets.
Here is another Ballistic Tip story for you all. When they first came out, I quickly learned some do's and don'ts, and created some fearsome holes in the process. One of the ones that did work was the 150 in a 7MM Weatherby. Killed a lot of game near and far, and that combo was very dependable. Shot that load out west and in Canada. Always worked until one cold, rainy morning. Target was a big 10pt buck with a rut swolen neck. Range was about 150, in a downpour and right at freezing. I shot the buck in the side of the neck about 6" below his ear. At the shot there was a lot of spray when it hit and the buck crumpled. I eased over to him and he was still alive. He got back up when he saw me, and I had to shoot him again quickly in the ribs. The bullet blew up and did not penetrate, or even break his neck, and the shot was perfect. I shot over 100 animals with that combination and that one was the only one that ever failed me, and it was the only one I can remember having to shoot again. The lesson here is no matter how much confidence you have in a load there are circumstances that can cause it to fail. If it had been the first animal I had shot with it we all know the conclusion I would have drawn. You cannot really make up your mind if you are using the right bullet or not until you have shot several animals with it. You need that history to make any sound judgement.
 
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